Bloomers to bikinis: Bathing suits through history

By Amy Roberts and Ann Hoevel, CNN

Updated 12:28 PM ET, Fri June 21, 2013

Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – The evolution of the bathing suit has reflected society's attitude towards swimming, outdoor living, modesty and sensuality. Click through this gallery of bathing suits through the ages to find out more.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – In 1825, women wore "bathing dresses" at the beach. This illustration shows women of the era venturing into the ocean via bathing machines -- sort of a dressing room on wheels -- that brought them directly to the water.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – Fashionable bathing suits in the 1870s featured tunics atop bloomers.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – Perhaps this couple, rendered in 1875, was unable to swim, because they are wearing the "ureka" unsinkable bathing outfit that has paddle gloves, a buoy and an emergency flag.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – Victorian-era bathing suits, especially for women, covered more of the bather's skin than in the past, often including stockings.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – When the practice of swimming as a sport caught on thanks to the modern Olympic Games, bathing suits became streamlined, for greater mobility. These women competed in the RSC swimming gala in 1906.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – Hollywood helped glamorize bathing suits as early as 1925, with Keystone Studios' "Sennett Bathing Beauties," whose bathing suits were considered provocative.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – Even if Hollywood starlettes wore outrageous beach attire, other beaches across the country, like this one in West Palm Beach, Florida, were subject to suit regulations introduced by beach censors.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – The Jantzen swimsuits of 1933 were form-fitting and less restrictive of movement than previous swimwear.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – By 1942, bathing suits developed a recognizably modern style.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – French designer Louis Reard designed the "Bikini" in 1946. While other versions of two-piece swimsuits had already appeared, this one caused a real splash. Reard was unable to find a fashion model to wear the suit, so he had to hire this nude dancer from the Casino de Paris.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – In the pin-up style, like the famous image of Betty Grable in a bathing suit from 1943, bathing suits were modeled in come-hither poses.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – Swimmers in Acapulco, Mexico, show off Hawaiian print swimming trunks in 1950.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – The bikinis of the 1950s offered women with curvy figures, like Marilyn Monroe, left, pictured in 1951, and Bettie Page circa 1955, the structured support of undergarments.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – Teeny, weeny, yellow polka-dot bikinis and surfin' trunks capitalized on the California-style rock 'n' roll beach party frivolity of the early 1960s.

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Bathing suits through the years – By the end of the decade, California beach style took a psychedelic spin with graphic prints and barely-there bikinis. Body paint, as worn by Goldie Hawn on "Laugh-In," rounds out the look.

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Bathing suits through the years – Actress Farrah Fawcett was a swimsuit icon in the 1970s. A poster of her wearing a simple rust-colored bathing suit and a wide smile adorned many a teenager's bedroom.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – The Hawaiian Tropic bikini pageants of the 1980s featured models in skimpy, high-cut bikinis and swimsuits, which showed off the sun-worshiping, tanning culture of the time. Marla Maples, pictured here in the center, was a Hawaiian Tropic beauty queen before becoming Mrs. Donald Trump.

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Bathing suits through the years – Olympic runner Florence Griffith Joyner was known for her flashy running outfits, which reflected the sporty influence on bathing suit fashion of the late 1980s.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – In the 1990s, fashion models shot to fame by landing the cover spot of the 'Sports Illustrated' swimsuit issue. Tyra Banks was the first African-American model to grace the cover, and did so consecutively in 1996 and 1997. Her fellow cover models include Kathy Ireland, Vendela Kirsebom, Heidi Klum, Rebecca Romijn and Rachel Hunter.

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Bathing suits through the years – The leggy lifeguards on the television show "Baywatch" made these tank-style one-piece bathing suits a staple of 1990s television.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – Toward the end of the 1990s, women wanting the cuteness of a bikini but the coverage of a one-piece found salvation in the "tankini." Here, Sherece Shurmain Smith, Miss U.S. Virgin Islands 1999, models an Oscar de la Renta tankini.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – Speedo, the company that is synonymous with tiny men's swimsuit that's favored by professional swimmers and European men, made a splash at the 2000 Sydney Olympics with a high-tech, full-body swimsuit (the Fatskin) that cuts a swimmer's drag in the water. A newer version of the suit was famously used by Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

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Bathing suits through the years25 photos

Bathing suits through the years – Whether you call them board shorts, surf trunks or boardies, the long, bright swimsuits took off in the 2000s, especially among surfers and skaters. You can still find the long, drawstring versions but recent updates shortened them, or re-styled them to suit women.

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Bathing suits through the years – When plus-sized fashion blogger Gabi Gregg popularized the term "fatkini" last year, she dreamed of helping plus-sized women feel better about themselves during the swimsuit season. This spring, she teamed up with clothing line SwimSuitsForAll -- and her suits sold out in one day.

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Story highlights

The average American woman owns four bathing suits

There were 30 square inches in one of the first bikinis

The swimwear industry estimates $17.6 billion in revenue for 2015

Do you prefer a one-piece or a string bikini? Swim trunks or a snug Speedo? Whatever you select, your choice isn't made in a vacuum under the florescent lights of a fitting room. History has informed the bathing suit styles of today, in ways we might never imagine. Click through the gallery above to learn how modesty, function and the evolution of style have affected the suits you take to the water, and look below for a collection of facts about swimwear.

$17.6 billion: The estimated revenue of the worldwide swimwear industry in 2015, according to research firm Global Industry Analysts.

July 5, 1946: Louis Reard introduced the "bikini" at a popular Paris swimming pool. (A similar swimsuit, called the "atome," was introduced around the same time, by fashion designer Jacques Heim.)

30 square inches: The amount of fabric in one of the first bikinis. In one of Reard's ad campaigns, he claimed a bikini wasn't a real bikini unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring. Anybody got a robe? Anyone?

1958:The year textile company Lycra says scientists created the eponymous fabric that would benefit saggy swimsuits everywhere.